FDA may follow China and Russia and approve a vaccine before the end of trials…..

Donald Trump HAS promised a ‘October Surprise’, eh?

Dr. Stephen M. Hahn, the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, who has been under pressure from the White House to speed coronavirus treatments, said in a newspaper interview that his agency would be willing to approve a coronavirus vaccine before Phase 3 clinical trials were complete if the agency found it “appropriate” to do so.

Dr. Hahn told the newspaper that a vaccine developer could apply for approval before the end of Phase 3 clinical trials, which are the largest and most rigorous, but that the agency would make “a science, medicine, data decision” and might issue emergency authorization for use for particularly vulnerable groups rather than a blanket approval.

“This is not going to be a political decision,” he said.

Dr. Hahn’s comments, published online on Sunday by The Financial Times, were not his first indication that the agency could fast-track a vaccine under the right circumstances, which would not be out of line with the agency’s standard protocols. But the interview came at the end of a particularly turbulent week for the F.D.A….

…

Last week, The Times reported that, on July 30, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and the White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, told Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader, that a vaccine would probably be given emergency approval before the end of Phase 3 clinical trials in the United States, perhaps as early as late September…

…

Last week, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s leading expert on infectious diseases, told The Times of London that three vaccines candidates focused on by Operation Warp Speed, the White House’s effort to speed vaccine development, were lined up for testing and that getting results by November or December was “a safe bet.” He also said that it was “conceivable that we would get an answer before that.”…

More…

Note…

Interesting…

White House Political people told House Speaker Pelosi about this…

NOT the scientists ….